With the breeding season just around the corner it is important that farmers begin recording heats to ensure the best results are achieved.
For a dairy cow to go in calf she firstly needs to be cycling, and farmers need to identify when cows are cycling to get the correct time to serve them.
Recording heats helps to build records and identify non-cycling cows.
Recording heats
At least three weeks before the planned start of mating, heats should be recorded.
For some farms, a whiteboard at the top of the pit is an effective way of recording heats in cows.
Cows should be tail painted and those that have had the tail paint removed by other cows jumping on them should be noted.
An example of a process used on many farms is tail painting cows with one colour, such as blue, after which any cows that had a bull remove their tail paint are then painted green.
Any cows that haven’t cycled after three weeks will still have blue tail paint and may need to be checked by a vet.
The date that cows cycled should be recorded on the board, so it should be easier to tell when they are due to cycle again.
Once breeding starts you should use another colour, i.e, yellow, to identify cows that have been served and cows that haven’t.
Breeding
For farms that have a health and/or heat monitoring system it is important to look at the information being provided.
These farms should pick out the cows that are shown not to be cycling and organise for them to be scanned or checked by a vet prior to the start of breeding.
Heat detection systems are very useful to farmers, but they are only useful when they are used correctly and to their full potential.